GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Wisconsin now has a good foul-brood law, and 

 N. E. France, of Platteville, Wis., is inspect- 

 or. It goes without saying that foul brood will 

 be cleaned out of Wlsiconsin, root and branch. 



In our last issue, page 340, we inadvertently 

 said that anywhere from Sr)00() to SIO,()00 worth 

 of queens was sold in a single season in this 

 county alone. Of course, the general reader 

 will understand that we meant country. 



We are having a large amount of fruit-bloom, 

 heavy rains, and lots of brood-rearing. In our 

 locality It looks as if the season would be two 

 or three weeks backward. Brood-rearing hav- 

 ing started a little later than usual, we shall 

 hope that basswood and clover will come on a 

 little later. 



I CAN not see why there should be any acri- 

 mony shown over the fact that the new organi- 

 zation, the United States Bee-keepers' Union, 

 has a name similar to the National Bee-keep- 

 ers' Union. As every one knows, when the 

 constitution was drawn up it was with the 

 idea of amalgamation. As that was voted 

 down by the old organization, the new one had 

 to go under the name proposed for the two 

 amalgamated societies. Just as soon as there 

 can be a meeting I do not think there will be 

 any question but that the name will be chang- 

 ed; and, by the way, I do not see that there 

 needs to be any feeling of rivalry between the 

 two Unions. They have separate lines of work, 

 and to a large extent the members of one soci- 

 ety belong to the other. 



THE CHARACTEK OF COMB FROM DRAWN FOUN- 

 DATION. 



We are constantly experimenting with and 

 testing the new drawn foundation. The results 

 of the former experiments have been confirmed 

 in every case; namely, that the bees accept the 

 new product immediately, no matter whether 

 honey is coming in or not. In cases where or- 

 dinary foundation is gnawed into, the new 

 drawn article is accepted at once. We placed a 

 sample of it in the center of the brood-nest, be- 

 tween two dark combs. In a day or two its 

 whole character w&s completely changed. In- 

 stead of being of a pearly, transparent, polished 

 white, as it leaves the dies, it assumed a dingy- 

 yellow, opaque, roughened appearance, like the 

 comb around it. The surface of the walls had 

 been completely worked over, so they were as 

 thin as natural. There can be no question 

 about its utility in the hive; and its " charac- 

 ter " is made to conform almost identically to 

 comb made wholly by the bees. Except for the 

 flat base, which the bees do not change, the 



fully completed comb, empty, could not bo dis- 

 tinguished from the natural-built comb made 

 by the bees without even the use of foundation. 



WORK FOR THE NEW UNION; PURE FOOD LAWS 

 IN EVERY STATE. 



Thk Board of Directors of the new Union, if 

 I am not very much mistaken, will recommend 

 that the organization devote its attention to 

 the enactment of pure-food laws in every State 

 of the Union. Of course, this work can not be 

 done in a day nor in a year, and perhaps not in 

 several years, and in some .States, perhaps, 

 never. It has been recommended that the or- 

 ganization commence first with Illinois. In 

 that State, more than in any other, there is 

 need of just such a law, as Chicago now seems 

 to be the center of glucose-mixing. If the U. S. 

 Bee-keepers' Union were to send C. P. Dadant 

 and J. A. Stone to Springfield, to buttonhole 

 the members of the Illinois Legislature, there 

 might be a good prospect of a law being enact- 

 ed in our favor. Both of the bee-keepers men- 

 tioned are strong and influential men, and I be- 

 lieve that Dadant, as a lobbyist, can stick and 

 hang like a tiger. 



The salutary effect of a pure-food law in Illi- 

 nois would have its immediate effect in Chica- 

 go. The adulterators in that city know that 

 there is no law, so they can palm ofl' their vile 

 mixtures as much as they like. The effect of 

 the recent enactment of a pure-food law in Cal- 

 ifornia has been most gratifying to the friends 

 of pure honey. I have already announced that 

 glucose mixers have been arrested, and now, of 

 course, the rest will proceed very cautiously in 

 their nefarious business. There are already 

 good laws in Ohio and Michigan, as I happen 

 to know. There are doubtless other States 

 with good laws ; but in the great majority 

 there are no pure-food laws. 



A BACTERIOLOGIST AND FOUL BROOD. 



F. C. Harrison, Bacteriologist of the Ontario 

 Agricultural College, is about to make the sub- 

 ject of foul brood a special study. He has 

 written us for the privilege of consulting our 

 works here at Medina— a privilege which we 

 have most gladly accorded him. After acknow- 

 ledging his thanks he writes: 



E. R. Boot:— I should be g-lad to make bacterio- 

 logrical examination for foul brood of any suspected 

 material that may be sent me, without charg-e, and 

 1 should be indebted to you to publish this fact in 

 your paper. My object in doing this istogret hold 

 of as much material, and from as widely different 

 sources, as possible. F. C. Harrison. 



Guelph, Ont., Apr. 28. 



Those of our readers who have foul brood in 

 their apiaries will, we hope, be kind enough to 

 forward specimens of the disease to Mr. Harri- 

 son. If they are doubtful as to its being real 

 foul brood, send a sample any way, and learn 

 what it is. The only regret is that Ontario, 

 with its splendidly equipped agricultural col- 



